Carnations had evolutionary bloom boom in Europe

New species have evolved at a surprisingly rapid pace

The carnation isn’t just another prom wallflower. New analyses reveal the tuxedo decoration has a much wilder past.

European carnations and pinks, which belong to the large and diverse plant group Dianthus, form new species surprisingly fast, a new study finds. The quick pace suggests that Europe “has been underappreciated as a cradle of recent and rapid speciation,” researchers report in a paper to appear in an upcoming Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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